Photo: (from left) Courtesy of thecorner.com; Courtesy of farfetch.com; Courtesy of Barneys New York

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It was during a recent stint working from the confines of my couch with a sprained ankle and a set of crutches that got me thinking: What’s appropriate attire when your bedroom doubles as your office? According to illustrator Joana Avillez, who makes a short trip from one corner of her Tribeca loft to another before putting pen to sketch pad on any given day, a stay-at-home uniform should be anything that makes you feel at ease: “It’s freeing to work swathed in comfort without trying to present anything to the world,” she says. “You feel like you’re getting away with something.” Avillez’s decision to slip into her boyfriend’s clothes (an oversize Hanes T-shirt and black American Apparel shorts) rather than her own is a practical one: “I’m very affected by my clothes,” she explains. “I wear certain things because of how they make me feel, so stripping back transcends that, and I feel totally relaxed.” The result? Her work rather than her wardrobe becomes the focus. But that’s not to say there isn’t a role for her more characterful wardrobe—a floral Agnès B. blouse, James Perse miniskirt, and jelly shoes brought back from a trip to France—within her working week: “Skyping with clients becomes an issue,” she adds. “Suddenly getting fully dressed to meet someone at your computer has an element of science fiction to it!”

Vogue Contributing Editor and Moda Operandi cofounder Lauren Santo Domingo’s solution to that visual dilemma (she often slips in calls with European clients before setting out to the office) is a glamorous pair of Oscar de la Renta mules and Piamita’s silk pajamas because “it’s not at all awkward when a messenger or UPS man arrives.” While the loungewear trend that’s seeped onto the runway over the past few seasons is presumably made use of by many who work from home, the Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine isn’t one of them: “As far as I’m concerned, if I make a decision to stay in sleepwear, the night before never really ended,” she says. “When I use clothing as a means of preparing myself for a work day, an internal sense of readiness comes naturally.” Among the sartorial motivators in her Bowery apartment: a Proenza Schouler tweed miniskirt, a T-shirt from Surface to Air’s collaboration with Aaron Young, and a pair of Isabel Marant’s studded sandals. Medine summarizes her approach thus: “I use fashion to draw a line between me-time and work time, because the second bedroom-cum-closet where I work muddies that distinction.” In a setting where there are presumably no dressing up—or down—restrictions, Santo Domingo’s rule of thumb is this: “Working and working-out are two different things. While sweatpants and tank tops may be comfortable, they should stay in the gym!”